USB Audio Question

A friend of mine mentioned that USB speakers affect processor performance. Is this true? I've been thinking about picking up some Harmon Kardon Soundsticks for a while now, and if what my friend says is true, well, I'd have to rethink my decision.

At first thought it seems it would be a bit of a drain on the processor. Since it's a usb connection the sound processing would have to be on the cpu instead of the soundcard. I doubt though that it would be a noticable performance difference, but I'm not sure on that one.

I was thinking about getting the JBL Creature speakers for myself. They look pretty good plus it includes a subwoofer, and it's a regular audio connection if I'm correct.

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